IRVINGTON — Irvington officials finalized a deal with developers today that paves the way for construction of the largest residential project in town in more than a half decade.

The massive 700-residential unit complex, called the Hilltop Residential Development, will replace the former Irvington General Hospital site, which has been closed since roughly 2006. Hilltop LLC today presented Mayor Wayne Smith with a $1 million check to purchase the six-acre township-owned property on Chancellor Avenue.

The complex will be built over a 15-year multi-phase process and includes 15,000 square feet of commercial space, according to Matthew Gross, director of development at the New York-based Urban Builders Collaborative.

Hilltop LLC is a joint venture between Urban Builders Collaborative, the development arm of Lettire Construction, which is also based in New York, and Kapwood, a development firm in Irvington.

The first $20 million phase of the total $160 million construction project will include 125 residential units, according to Patrick Terborg, a partner at Kapwood.

Adenah Bayoh, the other partner at Kapwood, says the Hilltop Residential Development has potential to revitalize the town. The residential units will be mixed-income rentals and the commercial tenants have not been finalized, Gross said.

“We really want to change Irvington,” Bayoh said. A former Irvington resident, Bayoh says she has previously worked on four real estate development projects in Irvington. Once completed, the buildings will range from six to 18 stories, Terborg said.

The first phase of the project, estimated at $20 million, will include a six to eight story residential building.Courtesy of Irvington Township

“This is a game changer,” Smith said of the project, which is slated to break ground in the West Ward in the fall. Irvington is expected to receive about $9 million during the next 30 years as payments in lieu of taxes for the first phase of the project, he said. The township council finalized approval of selling the property in May, according to Smith.

Demolition of the old hospital is slated for spring 2014, Gross said. Years ago, the hospital closure prompted an uproar in the community when Saint Barnabas Health Care System announced plans to close the facility, citing declining numbers of patients and staff.

The town has struggled for years to find a developer to take over the former hospital site. The town previously tried to sell the property to another developer for $3 million but the deal fell through. The assessed value of the property is $4,984,500, according to attorney Amelia Rideau, the town’s redevelopment counsel. She noted that the figure reflects the last property revaluation in 2007. Irvington is undergoing a property revaluation that will be completed by next month.

The largest residential complex in Irvington, the 1,400 unit complex called Maple Gardens, was built in the late 1950s, according to town officials.